Medea's Revenge

Jason, son of Aeson and great-nephew of Athamas, was sent on a quest by King Pelias to bring back the Golden Fleece as part of his three labors to gain back his rightful place at the throne of Iolcus. The goddess Hera wanted revenge on Pelias for not honoring her, so she asked Jason to bring back Medea, daughter of Aeetis, as a means to bring down Pelias. Along with the help of the goddess Aphrodite and her son Eros, Jason was able to bring Medea back to Iolcus, after she committed several acts of murder and betrayal throughout the quest to help Jason retrieve the Golden Fleece. After his journey with the Argonauts ended, he and his wife Medea were exiled to Corinth for Medea’s crimes and settled down, having two children. With his House’s …show more content…
Jason took on a wife, as Medea was a barbarian and not considered as a legal person in Greek culture, without breaking any laws. Medea was enraged and depressed over this decision of Jason’s and her want of revenge is explained throughout the play. It starts off with Medea’s servant explaining the grief that Medea is suffering at the expense of her husband and his new bride and expresses the cries that she screams out in sadness. Medea is shown as more of a weaker character at first, controlled by despair and unsure of what to do with herself, believing everything was her own doing and she must accept her fate as they were chosen by the gods. Eventually however, she decides on ill-will towards the new family and curses them to die an agonizing death (by either fire, sword, or poison). Euripides shows the conflicts of Medea, both internally and externally, in her attempts to carry out revenge on her betraying husband. These conflicts are shown in various ways: through her debating taking her sons’ lives and switching between admittance of guilt and denial of her actions several times, stating that she means no harm as a façade but she means to have ill intentions and bring about destruction (as if it is against her will almost), as well as her interactions with those around her and the refusal of advice she is …show more content…
Beginning the play, the viewer is placed only in the day of the tragic events and immediately is exposed to Medea’s point of view involving rage and without question, a plan to kill her family. Seneca shows Medea in much more of a dominant female role who admits to her crimes openly and doesn’t have constant conflict with them like the did in the earlier play. With her plan of attack already decided, the hurt wife curses the family just as before; by fire, sword, or poison. Calling upon every god she can think to console her, especially her idol Hecate (goddess of black magic, witchcraft and the moon), she hopes they will see the sins of Jason and his new-found family and bring horrible punishment upon them. The praying and calling out to several deities, in Medea’s case especially with gods associated with darker skills, is common in Roman culture as they incorporate many gods into the same spheres and blame these gods for events that happen or do not happen. Each action involves the interaction of one god or another. In the Greek viewpoint, each god is individualized more and not called upon as much by Medea as she is the main one at battle, wanting to please the gods and gain their aid rather than have them conduct the revenge for her. This reliance on praying to the gods’ for help and support of her cruel actions by the Chorus (rather than